TUFF Puppy Into Africa
by BluebirdSunflower
Summary: Some of the gang goes to Africa to rescue Finny and his dad
1. Chapter 1

Snaptrap had finally revealed Finny's note to Phil and the girls. He showed it to Phil first, so she could be calmed down by the time they told the others Finny was in Africa. Las Banditas were not the only ones upset; Kitty was furious that her friend had become a thief. Everyone in Las Banditas explained their circumstances of joining to T.U.F.F., who gave the girls two weeks' sentence for all their past crimes.

It turned out that Brock, the Oso brothers, and Los Changos Banditos had large bounties on their heads. Brock, Rico, Osito, and El Chango Bandito (who was revealed to really be named Panchito Chango) each were worth $100,000. The rest of Chango's gang was worth $350,000 all together. Phil gave each of her sisters $100,000 while she kept the $100,000 for herself and put the remaining money in the bank for Finny. Salena and Juanita bought their own houses while Phil had the Tudor on the mountain rebuilt. She also began investigating Finny's exact whereabouts while planning her wedding to Snaptrap.

Snaptrap really was starting to change. He quit his membership at D.O.O.M., refrained from any criminal activity, and began looking for a job. Not many people were willing to hire an ex-villain, not surprisingly. Finally, the Chief gave him a job as a janitor. Snaptrap did not mind very much, even though he knew he was under constant surveilance and the only co-worker who trusted and/or liked him was Salena.

One day, Phil got a letter from Finny and their Dad, whom Finny was helping with something. They were in Alexandra, in South Africa, but the return address was a post office box, so their exact address remained unknown. They were reassuring everyone that they were unhurt, but it could still be a while before they could come home. Phil wrote them a letter to tell them about her upcoming wedding, and that Salena, Francesca and Juanita had just accepted proposals from their boyfriends Dudley Puppy, Francisco the alligator and Bat. Finny and Phillip Rodentius promised that they would go to the library and borrow a web camera to see Phil's wedding if someone would set up a camera.

Unforunately, the two rats in Africa could not "attend" all four weddings. They also could not afford to keep renting the post box. By the time a year had gone by after Finny left Petropolis, and his friends could not find a way to contact him and Phillip that Phil, Salena, Juanita, and Francesca were expecting babies, a team was assembled to go to Africa to look for them. The team included Snaptrap and all the guys from D.O.O.M., Kitty, the Chief, Keswick, Josie (who had not given up being a criminal and had become an official member of D.O.O.M.), Jacinta, and Lucia. Secretly, BirdBrain and his remaining henchmen and the Chameleon followed, wondering what had come over Snaptrap for reforming and hoping to find some way of getting rid of the T.U.F.F. agents and the remaining competition in D.O.O.M. The rescue team landed close to a desert, hoping no thieves would find their helicoptor. BirdBrain parked his Whirly Bird close by for the same reason.


	2. Chapter 2

"So this is Africa," Snaptrap looked around, excited to be in a new country.

"S-s-south Africa, to be precise," offered Keswick as he sorted some papers, "We're just outside of S-s-s-soweto."

"Alright everyone," called the Chief, standing on top of Keswick's nose, "We're going to split into teams. Keswick will give each team a list of streets and shops where the Rodentiuses have been spotted and a wrist translator/communicator so you can ask the locals if they've seen 'em and call the rest of us if you spot 'em."

Everyone began to assemble into teams. Snaptrap, Larry, Ollie, Lucia, Mole, and Kitty were given a list of seven streets between 1st and 7th Avenue. Bad Dog, Leather Teddy, Josie, Jacinta, Keswick, and the Chief took Avenues 8th through 14th. Then they headed into the city.

Keswick was thrilled to be in a team with Jacinta. The hedgehog was pretty. Since Keswick was a bit shy around girls, he figured speaking to a girl who only spoke Spanish would not understand him and so could not respond negatively to anything he said, giving him practise and helping him overcome his fear of girls. Every time he saw her, one of her friends from Las Banditas was around to translate, so he was not aware that Jacinta did actually understand English.

"So, they're looking for Phineus!" BirdBrain said from his hiding place behind a boulder. "But that still doesn't explain why Snaptrap quit being evil," responded the Chameleon, shapeshifting from a bush.

"Well, we'll have to keep following them! Duck!" Owl and the henchwomen ducked. "This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis!" BirdBrain complained to the Chameleon.

Kitty and her team could not keep their heads in one direction, looking all around for the two missing rats. When they came to 5th Avenue, they noticed that traffic had stopped. Two groups were in the middle of the street, throwing stones, machetes, broken bottles and other such missiles at each other. The team walked over for a closer look.

One of the warring groups was made up of a leopard lady, a dark-colored lizard lady, a tiger, a hyena, an African penguin, a hippo, a meerkat, and a warthog. The group was shouting at the other side, every once in a while yelling, "AMANDLA MONGOLS!" The other team was clustered together, with only a lion, a zebra, and a giraffe noticeable. They would answer "amandla mongols" with "AMANDLA TOMAHAWKS!" (Amandla means "Power is"). Suddenly the tiger threw a stone, and a shout from the Tomahawk side caused a brief pause in the fight. Kitty and her team walked towards them for a better look. The zebra had hauled a dog with his eye cut out onto his back and ran away, presumably to get his friend to a doctor.

"YOU SONS A' GUNS IMMA BUTCHER Y'ALL!" called a familiar voice among the Tomahawks as a gray rat jumped up, throwing a broken bottle at the Mongols.

"FINNY!" Kitty, Snaptrap and Lucia shouted at the same time. The two were glad to find their missing friend before realizing he could easily be killed in the fight. Kitty and the guys pulled out blasters, firing just short of the Mongols to scare them away. It worked, but they earned some nasty glares from the retreating enemy.

"HEY YOU GUYS!" Finny shouted delightfully as he ran over, squeezing his friends in a hug.

"Hey yourself, bro!" laughed Snaptrap, trying to out-squeeze his new brother-in-law. He let go when he saw another rat walking up to them. This rat had white fur and a slightly bushy muzzle, which thinned just before connecting to the head. The rat otherwise looked very much like his son. "Hello, Mr. Rodentius," said Snaptrap, holding a hand out to his father-in-law.

"You can call me Dad now, Verm," Phillip smiled, pulling Snaptrap into a hug. "Hello, Kitty. My, you've grown," Phillip continued, shaking Kitty's hand. Finny introduced his father to the rest of the group.

Then the old rat turned to the Tomahawks, "And these are my friends, Shikibu Simba the lion and boss, Jarvas Mabaso the giraffe, Pietus Vilakazi the cat, and Jackson Mandleve the bull." The Tomahawks each nodded as they were named. Then Phillip introduced Kitty and her team to them. Then Shikibu invited everyone to his gang's shack on Radhi Street, a block over. Kitty called the Chief, telling his team to meet them there, then they all left.

BirdBrain and his group had lost sight of Snaptrap when they were bowled over by a gang of natives. The leopard quickly returned to her feet, then began helping Ewe and Holy Cow get up. The tiger did the same for BirdBrain, the penguin for Owl and Duck. Chameleon got up on his own, spotting a fly. He shot his tongue at it, but instead of catching the fly it got tangled with another tongue; the dark lizard had also tried to catch the fly. The lizards' tongues quickly tried to pull back, drawing the two reptiles into a head collision. They sat on the ground, rubbing their heads and staring at each other bashfully.

"Uh, thowy abahd thath," the Chameleon blushed.

"Um not hurth," responded the dark lizard, untying their tongues. When they were free they stood up.

"We all must apologize," said the leopard in a silky voice, "We were in a hurry to return home."

"It's quite alright, madame," answered BirdBrain, cleaning off his spectacle.

"You is not from here?" asked the tiger, putting an arm around the leopard.

"No, we're from America," Chameleon answered, still staring at the lizard lady. She blushed and looked down at her feet.

"I am Koloko," the leopard spoke up after glancing at the reptiles a moment, "the tiger is Sundiata and the leezard is Wangero. Who are you?"

After the Americans introduced themselves, Koloko asked if they were staying in Soweto. "We were following an old friend without his knowing, but we've lost sight of him," answered BirdBrain. "He's a rat, and he was with some other people."

Koloko's eyes sparkled a moment in anger, but instantly she smiled, "If you not have place to stay, you are welcome in our house." Seeing no alternatives, the Americans accepted the invitation and followed the Mongols home.

(A.N. I got the idea of the gang fight and some of the African names from Mark Mathabane's book Kaffir Boy and will continue to use ideas from that book.)


	3. Chapter 3

"And this is baby Rodentia!" Finny held a tiny black rat in his arms, nuzzling her. The baby cooed and stroked his whiskers.

"When you become un papí, bose?" Lucia nearly shrieked.

"He rescued her from a fire after a bus crashed into the community center. It'd crushed her mother to death and we couldn't find her family," Phillip answered, groaning as he sat down at the kitchen table. The house was a two-room shack, with sleeping mats all over the bedroom floor and very little furniture. The kitchen had a few cabinets, a high-chair, a table propped up on bricks, two chairs and a barrel half-full of water. A bed (also on bricks), a table and a small wardrobe were in the bedroom.

"Why did the bus crash into the building?" asked Kitty.

"It's kinda a long story," sighed Phillip. "Pietus and Bouki, the dog that got hurt in today's fight, they're old friends of mine. The Tomahawks are in a gang war with the Mongols. A while back they asked me to help, and when we still weren't doing good I asked Finny to join us. Then a month ago a student riot started up, I don't know all the particulars. All kinds of crazy things've been happenin' since then."

Kitty and the other girls slept on the bed that night, except for Jacinta who slept on top of the bedroom table. Finny and his dad slept next to the bed, with Finny holding Rodentia close to him. All the Africans slept in the kitchen, waiting for Bouki and Makena the zebra to return.

At the house of the Mongols, things were about the same. The girls slept on the bed, the American guys slept on the bedroom floor and the African guys in the kitchen.

At the Tomahawks, everyone awoke to Rodentia's cries. The newcomers jolted awake, everyone else slowly sat up rubbing their eyes. "What's wrong, Rodey?" Finny murmured, rocking the child in his arms. Finny proceeded to clean and feed the baby before sitting back down on his mat. Everyone else slowly drifted back to sleep except Kitty. She watched as her friend rocked his adopted daughter and sang softly to her.

**One thing I know for sure, She was sent here from heaven**

**And she's Daddy's little girl, As I drop to my knees by her**

**bed, She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes, And I thank**

**God for all of the joy in my life, Oh but most of all, For**

**butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer, Sticking little white**

**flowers all up in her hair, Walk beside the pony Daddy, it's**

**my first ride, I know the cake looks funny Daddy, but I sure**

**tried, Oh with all that I've done wrong I musta done something**

**right, To deserve a hug every morning and butterfly kisses**

**at night. **(Song title "Butterfly Kisses", just first verse)

The Rodentius family refused to leave the Tomahawks until the gang war was over, and the Americans refused to leave without them. Their blasters were a valuable asset to the Tomahawks, but so were the Chameleon, BirdBrain and his henchmen and their blasters to the Mongols. Eventually, a deal was made.

"Every year in the Gobi desert there's an ATV race. It's in a few days, this year our gangs will race. The first person from either side to cross the finish line determines which gang wins the war," Phillip explained. Koloko agreed to the plan.

Everyone managed to fit into the WhirlyBird, the T.U.F.F. Mobile (converted into a helicoptor), and the Chameleon in helicoptor form. When they arrived at the start of the race, everyone divided into pairs and found/bought/built an ATV to race on. The race lasts three days. The pairs were Snaptrap and Phillip, Finny and Kitty (with Rodey in a special carrier on Finny's chest), Ollie and Lucia, BD and LT, Josie and Jacinta, Mole and Larry, Shikibu and Makena, Jarvas and Jackson, Pietus and the Chief, Bouki and Keswick, Koloko and Sundiata, Erevu the warthog and Kopa the meerkat (any reference to "Lion King" characters Timon and Pumbaa not intended), Sipho the penguin and Scaramouche the hyena, Chameleon and Wangero, Owl and Ewe, Duck and Holy Cow, and BirdBrain and Zippy.

It was noticed that Phillip and Finny became increasingly uneasy as the day of the race approached. "Is something wrong, guys?" Kitty asked the night before as Team Tomahawk finished dinner.

"It's the Rodentius Family Curse," sighed Phillip, "My great-grandfather's brother David and his best friend were killed during this race. They were attacked by Mongolian Deathworms."

"Oh, not that curse business again," groaned Kitty.

"No, it's true!" declared Finny.

"Wait wait, what curse Mr. Rodentius?" the Chief interrupted.

"That is a very old story," began Phillip. "My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-gr andfather James Rodentius had promised to marry a gypsy girl. But he ended up falling in love with my grandmother instead. The gypsy cursed him, and anyone born under the Rodentius family name. Ever since, every member of our family born under the name Rodentius has had bad luck and encountered some type of monster. I fell under the curse when I was a junior in high school. My best friend, our girlfriends and I went for a camping trip out in the woods where we got lost and ran out of food. My friend's girl disappeared the fourth day after our food ran out. He..." Phillip began to tear up, "He started acting strange, he talked about a buzzing in his head and hinted at eating my girl, but I told him he was just dizzy from hunger. But then...that night, I noticed they were both missing...so I stepped out and saw 'em (sniffle, sniffle) She was lying on the ground and he was leanin' over her...I called 'What are you doin'?' (sob) and he looked up at me, _but it wasn't his face!_ It was some monster, growling at me! I ran and found a cave to hide in until a pair of rangers found me, but still I was the only one to escape!" Phillip hugged himself as he wept. Finny wrapped his arms around his father as the Tomahawks rubbed his back.

"I was attacked by a monster, too," Finny looked to Kitty, "a buddy and our fishing guide were killed by a monster fish in White River. And Phil and our cousin Mark were attacked by a snake called Megaconda in a warehouse they were investigating for Mark's activist group."

"What are Mongolian Deathworms?" Snaptrap asked after a moment of silence.

"Is a creature in de sand," answered Shikibu, "it spit acid and electricity from ten feet away." An uneasy silence fell over the company.


	4. Chapter 4

(A.N. I forgot to mention last chapter that the monster encounters are based on episodes of the TV show "Lost Tapes", and I got the idea for Irene Owlson and her digging prisoners from the book/movie Holes.)

The next morning, despite the horror stories, everyone got up after a good night's sleep and went out to the start of the race on their ATVs. Every few miles on the course, they were told, would be a check point to keep track of where everyone was and in what place so far. Everyone was given food and gas for three days. Soon they were driving off into the desert. It should be noted that none of the officials had mentioned to our friends that every year at least one person goes missing, and that while the ATV and supplies are found in good condition, the bodies are never found.

The Mongol team members dogged the Tomahawks for the first day, trying to knock them off course or worse. Luckily they were all good drivers. That first night, the Tomahawks camped together while the Mongols decided to continue through the night, gaining an advantage, supposedly. The next day, at about the midpoint of the race, it was noticed that none of the Mongols had checked in. The Tomahawks had separated that morning to try and get ahead of their enemies. At each following checkpoint, a pair of Tomahawks failed to sign in. That night, Finny, Kitty and Rodey were ahead of their companions.

"Do you really think your family is cursed?" pursued Kitty as her friend rocked his daughter to sleep. "Maybe those weren't monsters, or that it's all just coincidence."

"Purty strange coincidence that near ev'ry member of the Rodentius fam'ly been attacked by somethin'," he countered, annoyed. "We've had relatives get killed by critters they didn' know what it was. After ev'ry attack, any survivors research what they saw, an' they always get results as monsters. Like Dad's pal turnin' inta a wendigo. Or the megaconda what ate cousin Mark an' a'most got Phil."

"What were you attacked by?"

"Best I could find, it was a white river monster. I'll admit, is basic'lly just a big fish. But darn big."

Kitty sat back against the ATV, giving up on trying to convince Finny that monsters were not real. "You hear somethin'?!" Finny started, the fur rising on the back of his neck.

"You've just made yourself paranoid with all those monster stories."

"No, I really heard somethin', like footsteps. Now I smell somethin'."

"How can you hear and smell something when I can't?"

"Rats have good senses, kinda like dogs. Really Kitty, somebody tryin' ta-" It was at that moment that the two were knocked unconscious.

The next morning, all of the members of teams Mongol and Tomahawk were being marched across the desert by covered figures. Questions of their destination went unanswered. All were shackled with hands behind their backs except for Finny, who was allowed to carry Rodentia to keep her from crying, and Zippy and the Chief, who were put in a small cage and carried by a guard. Finally they approached a group of buildings, with a hamster wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt waiting for them.

"Welcome to Owlson Oasis," he started with a humorless chuckle. "This place'll be your home for the rest of your lives."


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you mean we'll be here-"

"Why I never!"

"You son of a-"

The protests came from everyone at once. The guards strengthened their grip on the prisoners while the hamster stood calmly. When the shouting died down, he continued.

"My name is Hammie Wheeler. When you address me you call me Mr. Wheeler. You will wear the green jumpsuits all prisoners are required to wear. You will be given two suits, one for work, one for relaxation. Every few days your workclothes will be washed. You are required to dig one hole each day, five feet deep, five feet in diameter. Your shovel is your measuring stick. All bugs and other small creatures are allowed to work together to dig one hole."

"This is bogus!" Finny cut in, Rodentia starting to whimper, "You kidnapped us! What the heck for!?"

"This land belongs to Warden Owlson." Further protests were silenced by the guards, who ushered the prisoners into two different buildings to change their clothes. The girls were taken to a house with two trees in front of it, a hammock strung between them. The men were taken to a sort of storage building. After everyone got their jumpsuits, they were shown to the tents where they would be sleeping. Other prisoners began entering the camp.

Two ducks, one white and one black, a newt, a skunk, and to the Americans' astonishment, a blue-bottomed booby. It was a slender female with red hair. BirdBrain stared at her, not so much in admiration, but as though trying to remember something. The older prisoners took no notice of the new people.

Later that day all the prisoners were ushered into a large building; the mess hall. The Americans were allowed to get in line first, and they tried to sit together. The skunk sat next to Josie, "Hey newbie, you didn' do no diggin' today, so you wouldn' mind given up your bread to someone who did now wouldja." She reached for the slice of bread on Josie's plate. Josie gasped, covered her mouth and nose with both hands, turned green, and passed out. The skunk had the same kind of smirk as Josie as she introduced herself, "Name's Blackout." The new prisoners believed it; her stench was so bad it could knock someone out.

"Hey BirdBrain!" The booby whipped around as the female approached the table.

The guards seemed to be astonished, "Hey Blank just spoke!"

"What else can you do, Blank?" The girl looked expressionlessly at the guards.

"Her name is Stefania," BirdBrain said softly as he recognized her. Stefania smiled at him, probably glad to see a familiar face. BirdBrain slid over on the bench to allow Stefania to sit next to him.

"Never expected to see you here," she opened.

"I never really expected to see you ever!" BirdBrain chuckled nervously, "California's so far away from Petropolis!"

Stefania held out her hand for him to shake. As soon as her fingers curled around his, he begged to be released. "Don't know my own strength sometimes, sorry."

"Or maybe you're just being a showoff again, just like when we were children," he pouted.

Any friendly feelings were destroyed and an old rivalry restored with that remark. Stefania glared at BirdBrain, "I was tryin' to show you there are advantages to exercising, but you were too addicted to loafing around!"

Snaptrap and Chameleon laughed, knowing firsthand that BirdBrain is not the best athlete.

"Is that you, Herbert?" The Chief turned to a cockroach lady standing next to him.

"Vicky?!" the Chief gasped, then both their faces lit up in smiles. The two bugs jumped up and hugged, shouting and laughing. "Agents, this is agent Vicky Roach. She was my partner and mentor when I was a rookie!" Vicky did not look all that impressive. She seemed to be about the Chief's age, but she looked in better condition. The Chameleon flicked his tongue at her ("Ooh, cockroach!"), which she grabbed and yanked so that he went flying halfway across the room.

Vicky sighed as they watched the Chameleon regain his feet, "Retiring was the worst mistake I ever made."

Several new friends were made that night. There were a few Americans: Summer Honey the bee, Brooke Webster and Jackie Black the ducks, Crick Newt, Maxine Mooserton, Robby Racoon, Tiff Mouse, and Mack Sparrow, and two Africans, a meerkat named Geli Brown and Ahadi Moutoussamy the water buffalo. The two Africans, Crick, Max, and Robby had been on a plane heading for America that crashed near the camp. Geli was enrolled in a college in Petropolis, Ahadi was visiting his daughter who had become an American citizen, Max and her two friends were returning from a vacation.

Stefania, Blackout (real name Anahareo), and Mack had been in ATV races when they were captured. The rest of the prisoners were going to clean water or do missionary work in Africa.


	6. Chapter 6

Digging began at four in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. The Chief and Zippy were placed in a group with the other smaller creatures (Vicky and Mack) to dig a hole together. Everyone was given a canteen and a cap, the small creatures sharing a canteen. Finny tore out the lining of his hat to shade Rodey, who was placed on his chest with the zipper of his jumpsuit holding her in place. Every half hour or so one of the guards would come by in the water truck to refill the canteens. Lunch was served at 12. By around 1 o'clock Stefania had finished her hole. The new prisoners learned that if they found anything interesting while digging, something that the Warden deemed interesting, they could have the rest of the day off. Unfortunately, no one had ever found anything interesting. And Blackout had warned them if they did find something to give it to Vicky, since she had been there the longest.

At the end of the first week, Snaptrap found something. "Hey, what is this?" The other prisoners quickly gathered around his hole.

Ollie took it first, "It looks almost like a bullet, Boss." He passed the object to Blackout.

"Naw, it's goldy-lookin'. No one makes gold bullets."

Chameleon took it, holding it very close to his eye, "It's hollow at this end."

It was passed to Vicky, who noticed the other end was engraved with the letters SS, "Guess I'll show, no, our hole's almost done. I'll show it to the first guard tomorrow, get the whole day off!"

The next day Vicky indeed showed the object to the first guard, who called someone on his walkie-talkie. Within ten minutes a Rolls-Royce pulled up close to the digging site and out stepped a female barn owl. Everyone was taken by surprise when Owl suddenly blurted, "WOOO-HOO!" and fell onto his back, smiling.

"So you do say something else," BirdBrain muttered sarcastically. The barn owl paid no attention as she took the object from the guard and walked over to the hole where Vicky and her friends were digging.

"This where you found it?" she asked in a southern American accent.

"Yes, ma'am," answered Vicky.

"Mister Ghigno (A.N. pronounced "Jeen-yo") take the small critters back to camp and give them a snack. But first fill everyone's canteens!"

Everyone was ordered to start digging out the rest of the hole, to examine the dirt and rocks carefully, to avoid rushing. Finny had been smart enough to give Rodey to Vicky and the Chief to take her back to camp.

After a week of expanding the hole and finding nothing, everyone returned to digging individual holes. That first day, Lucia stole a bag of trail mix from the water truck while everyone else had their canteens refilled. "Shouldn't a done that," Summer piped up, "He's stopped smokin' and eats the trail mix to give 'im somethin' else to do!" As soon as she said it, the water truck spun around. Lucia had passed the bag around, and now it was tossed to Owl. He didn't catch it, and didn't bother hiding it. The guard took him back to camp.

The guard knocked on the door of the Warden's cabin. "Found a little somethin' in his hole," he started. Excitedly she let them in.

Owl smiled at the Warden, not caring about any punishments. He had just wanted to see her again. "While he was filling our canteens, I snuck into the truck and stole his trail mix."

The Warden's face fell, darkening, as she pointed towards the bathroom, "On that shelf there's a little pink make-up case, would you bring it over here?"

Owl did not pay much attention to the guard bragging about his vigilance, partly because he noticed some posters all around the cabin, depicting a lady in long robes riding horseback, with the words "WANTED" and "Smooching Safi" printed across the tops. Owl brought the case to Warden Owlson, who took out a bottle of nail polish. "This here I make myself," she told him as she painted the nails of her right hand."My special ingredient for this color...is rattlesnake venom. Perfectly harmless," she continued as she passed her finger tips across Owl's cheek, "when it's dry."

Suddenly she stood up and scratched the guard across his face. He reeled back onto the floor, screaming and holding both hands over the wound. "I suggest you go back to your hole now," the Warden told Owl. He obliged, terrified.

Owl reported everything to the others, thanking Lucia for taking over his hole while he was gone. "Who's 'Smooching Safi'?" asked the Chief, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"She was supposed to of lived a long time ago around here," Stefania threw a shovelful of dirt towards BirdBrain, "She was a crook. She had a boyfriend who was killed for some reason and she began terrorizing the people who killed him."

At that moment, Philip clapped a hand to his chest and fell over. "DAD!" yelled Finny as he leapt to the older rat's side. When Philip never moved or breathed or spoke for the next 30 seconds, and Keswick could detect no pulse or heartbeat and Finny's CPR had no effect, they realized Philip Rodentius was dead.


	7. Chapter 7

Finny had to be held back by Snaptrap, Kitty and Josie when the guard merely commented that there were plenty of burial holes to choose from. Philip's body was placed carefully in a hole by his African friends. Finny and Snaptrap said a few words in his honor; Finny recalling life lessons his father had instilled in him and Philamina, Snaptrap commenting how Philip Rodentius was the kind of guy he had always imagined his own dad to be like.

Finny slouched over the dinner table, resting his chin on top of his crossed arms. "Finny, why don't you eat something?" a concerned Kitty pushed her tray closer to him.

"I'm not hungry," was all the rat mumbled.

"YOU CALL ME JOCK AGAIN AND I'LL SHOVE YA FACE IN THE BEANS!"

"YOU DO THAT, MUSCLE-BOUND AIRHEAD!"

"Sounds like the boobies are at it again," Chameleon tried to sound light-hearted.

"Do you suppose they're always going to fight like that?" Ollie whispered to Lucia, who merely shrugged.

The two blue-bottomed boobies were indeed fighting again, over what no one could say or even cared. Kitty could not help but compare them to herself and Dudley. _I wonder what the nincompoop is up to, anyway_ she thought.

BirdBrain began howling as Stefania picked him up by the back of his jumpsuit's collar and lower back and tossed him into a table. The male bird landed, beans sliding down his suit and mashed potatoes in his hair. Jumping to his feet, he ran at his rival with swinging fists. Stefania dodged his fists and used her own to punch him in the beak. Guards began filing in before the fight went any further, and the two birds retreated to opposite ends of the room.

Back in Petropolis, Dudley and Salena have long since bought their own house and are now rocking their new-born daughter to sleep for the very first time. "Zorra, such a pretty puppy!" Dudley "whispered" in a sing-song tone (A.N. zorra is the Spanish word for vixen, a female fox). The puppy looked just like her mother, except the tail was shorter. She yawned, blinking her eyes sleepily as she struggled to stay awake.

Salena smiled as she began singing a Puerto Rican lullaby. The melody was soft, and coupled with the rocking of the cradle it soon put the little vixen to sleep.

Elsewhere in Petropolis, Francisco and Francesca were monitoring their five eggs, keeping them warm. Bat and Juanita were still trying to think of names for their baby, which they still did not know if it would be a boy or girl. Sissy, Larry's wife and Snaptrap's little sister, had just realized she was a month pregnant and was excited to tell Larry the news.

And in the mountains, in the renovated Tudor house, Phil sat alone, looking through a photo album with pictures of her missing men-folk; her husband, her brother, and her dad. She was now aware that she was pregnant with triplets, two boys and a girl. She was thinking and naming the girl Phyllis, she had not thought of any names for the boys yet. She was praying her family and friends would return before they were born. A kick alerted her to the present. She smiled and rubbed her growing stomach, "Don't worry, Daddy will be home soon. I hope" she finished more to herself.


End file.
